Auction, golf tourney to benefit charity

Indigo Sky Casino near Seneca is gearing up to help out an organization with a two-day event.

Todd G. Higdon

SENECA — Indigo Sky Casino near Seneca is gearing up to help out an organization with a two-day event.

The Swinging for Pink Dinner/Auction & Golf Tournament will be held on Friday, Sept. 6, and Saturday, Sept. 7, with proceeds to benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks (BCFO). The Friday event — which will be held at Indigo Sky — will start at 5:30 p.m. with social hour and silent auction begins. From 6:30-8 p.m., dinner will be served and the silent auction ends. From 8-9 p.m., the live auction begins and from 9 p.m. to midnight, the band plays. Tickets are still available.

"Eastern Shawnee Tribe Chief Glenna Wallace [said] she wanted Indigo Sky to do a nice fundraiser for BCFO," said Kristi Seibert, outreach director with BCFO. "This will be the very first fundraiser that another organization has done for us in Oklahoma. We do Pink Ribbon Gala at Downstream Casino Resort – which is Oklahoma – but BCFO puts on that event at (Downstream)."

The Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks is a resource for individuals and families in Southwest Missouri who are impacted by breast cancer.

Seibert said that Wallace – who is a two-time breast cancer survivor — is also a long-time supporter of BCFO. "She is very well aware of the good work that we do in our communities," Seibert said. "She knows that we do provide help and hope to families in Newton, McDonald, Ottawa, Delaware counties, she is very well aware that we are helping those people and she also realizes that nothing has been done on a big level in that area to give back to the foundation so that we can continue taking care of these families."

In an earlier interview with the Neosho Daily News, Seibert said proceeds will fund programs that BCFO provides local families.

"The largest one being the financial assistance program. When there is a breast cancer diagnosis and active treatment going on in that household, we provide financial support for non-medical things such as paying the mortgage or their rent, paying the utilities bills, and fixing their car to make sure they can get back and forth to treatment — just a multitude of things that keep the household going, just normal everyday expenses. Also, continue funding of the mammography program, which in our service area, we have contracts with both Mercy and Freeman to provide screening mammograms for the uninsured and the under-insured, those are the two main funds."

Individual tickets for the Friday event are $75 or a table of eight for $550. Various silent auction items include artwork, jewelry and Precious Moments figurines. The live auction items include a golf cart, Oklahoma City Thunder tickets, a Doug Hall painting and a guided fishing trip.

On Saturday, the golfing part of the event will be held at Twin Hills Golf and Country Club. There will be two tee times: 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Registration is 7 a.m. and 11 a.m., respectively. A four-person team is $300, individual player is $75 and hole sponsorship is $100.

"We have room for 50 golf teams, 25 in morning and 25 in the evening," said Seibert. "We are really pleased at this time we have got about 25 teams already signed up."

For more information, please contact Regina Hammons at 918-309-3202 or Seibert at 434-2200.